Caracas, November 27 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Venezuela's housing mission has now constructed nearly 860,000 homes, according to new figures released Thursday.

“This is people's power,” said President Nicolas Maduro during a visit to a newly built housing complex in the state of Miranda.  The president said the government is firmly on track to reach its goal of building one million homes by the end of the year.

The exact number of housing units now completed by the mission is 859,979, suggesting around 184,000 units have been built so far this year.  Over 80,000 new homes have been completed in the past month alone, after the government announced plans to accelerate construction.     

In January, the government put the number of completed housing units at just under 676,000.      
    
One of the Venezuelan government's most popular social initiatives, the housing mission was first launched to provide shelter for people who lost their homes in devastating floods that hit the country in 2010.  Since then, the mission has expanded to provide low-cost housing to the wider population, with poor families receiving priority.  Units are generally provided fully furnished and the houses are offered either for free or at low cost, depending on the means of the prospective owners.

In 2011, then-President Hugo Chavez explained that the mission would address the “social debt” left behind by former governments that failed to provide quality housing to all Venezuelans.

The current Maduro administration has vowed to expand the mission, aiming to provide low-cost housing to 40 percent of Venezuelans by the end of the decade.